


Tsurumaki Mansion's New Guard

by DemonRiRi



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Everyone else will show up at some point - Freeform, F/F, Light Angst, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22405708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonRiRi/pseuds/DemonRiRi
Summary: After a potentially life-threatening injury, bodyguard Okusawa Misaki is forced into a new job - working to protect the rich daughter of the Tsurumaki family. All Misaki has to do is show up, stop Kokoro from getting killed and not get attached.
Relationships: Okusawa Misaki/Tsurumaki Kokoro
Comments: 8
Kudos: 75





	1. Prologue: "Temporarily Relocated"

Misaki shuddered as the rain hit her skin. She didn’t want to be there — she’d known from the start that the weather would take a turn for the worse — but contractual obligations were an immovable object that she had to adhere to. Looking over at her partner revealed nothing of their emotions; sunglasses covered their eyes and a steely frown masked everything else.

_ I don’t belong here _ .

She almost shook the thought out of her head forcefully, but any sudden movements would have her tackled to the floor faster than she could say ‘wait, stop’, so she just grimaced lightly and forced herself to focus on what was in front of her. 

Nothing.

That was the worst part of the job in Misaki’s eyes: the hours of tension before the two minutes of action; the silent waiting for any movement or signs of the target. Still, the job paid well and she was fairly fit because of it, so she’d keep going on jobs no matter how dull. 

Across the street she saw a couple rushing along, hands gripped together tightly with the man on the left holding an umbrella. She’d come to terms with the idea that that would never be her a long time ago, but she’d be lying if she didn’t experience a slight pang of something faint whenever she saw it. 

“Look alive.”

Her partner forced the words out before rushing in to action. Out of the corner of her eye Misaki saw the threat — a hooded figure rushing through the rain towards the alley beside them, something gripped tightly in their hands. Somehow Misaki got there first, so she threw herself onto the person with all of her might, sending them both crashing to the ground. The air was taken out of her stomach on impact, but she moved her arms to pin them nonetheless. 

“Get off me, you crazy bitch!” The girl below her screamed bitterly, thrashing desperately. Misaki simply gripped tighter, and soon enough the struggling stopped. She panted quietly, but bit her lip tightly in an attempt to get her face under control. Still, she couldn’t help but look over at the sudden movement coming from her left.

“Okusawa-san, look out!” 

A shout echoed behind her, and it’s the last thing she heard before her vision is overtaken by a blinding whiteness and her body collapsed to the floor.

***

‘Temporary relocation’. That was what they had called it; A movement to another department for an unspecified length of time while she recovered from her injuries. The meeting had come the moment she’d left the hospital, all vague smiles and faux apologies that disappeared the moment she left the room. 

Misaki knew damn well that they just wanted to get rid of her.

Knife wounds didn’t heal easily — a knife wound to the stomach would probably leave a lifetime impact. To put it simply, Misaki’s life was never going to be the same again, but firing her because of that would come with the hefty cost that was a court settlement.

_ Can’t legally get rid of me for injury so they’re just pawning me off somewhere else, huh? _

It was fine, she supposed. Being a bodyguard had never really suited her, and all it had really gotten her in the end was a permanent scar and an inability to walk without being in pain. It didn’t stop her from being bitter about the way things had been handled, but there was no point complaining when there was nothing to be done about it.

With that in mind, she really just wanted the current meeting to be over.

Her supervisor had been talking at her for ten minutes. She hurt, she knew what they were going to say from the very beginning, and she honestly just wanted to sit down, but Misaki stood there and vaguely nodded along with a smile nonetheless. The words bounced off of her ears like confused flies, and the most interesting thing in the room remained a slightly phallic stain on the wall. Eventually a lull presented itself in the ‘conversation’, so she presumed that things were over. 

“So, where am I being reassigned to?” She asked.

Her supervisor motioned to the chair across from him as he withdrew a set of files and placed them on the desk. Misaki sighed in relief and tentatively sat down, grunting slightly as she moved. After taking several moments to catch her breath, she placed a hand on the files and moved them to her side of the desk. The front was blank, sans her own name in a small serif font, so she gently pushed it open to look at the rough briefing. At the top of the page was the name of the contractors, in this case one that Misaki hardly needed to look at to recognise.

“The Tsurumakis huh? That’s definitely a name I’ve heard floating around before,” Misaki said.

The supervisor nodded their agreement. Living in Japan and not having heard of the Tsurumaki family was something of an impossibility; they ranked highly amongst the wealthiest groups in the world, and had a hand in more or less every single business you could imagine. If you had bought a product or used a service, chances were they had something to do with it. 

“We’ve not been told the specifics, but as far as I can gather they want somebody to guard their youngest daughter closely. The requirements are a young female who isn’t ‘too scary’ and has a few years of experience in the business. I’d say you happen to fit those criteria quite well,” they said.

Misaki flipped over to the next page. On it was a picture of the daughter in question, who was named Kokoro Tsurumaki. In the provided photograph she was smiling widely, blonde hair flying in every which direction as she made a peace sign. She was attractive, in much the same way that every girl born in to a rich family ended up being (as far as Misaki could gather), but she looked fairly childish. A brief description revealed nothing of real worth — she was outgoing, happy and generally friendly, the usual sort of stuff that probably applied to more or less every child.

“What about… y’know?” Misaki gestured across her stomach. “Wouldn’t guarding one of the most important girls in Japan call for somebody who isn’t basically out of commission?”

“Now, now, Okusawa-san, you know we dislike that term.”

She rolled her eyes, barely resisting the urge to hit the table in frustration.

“My  _ apologies,  _ sir. I of course meant to say  _ temporarily relocated,”  _ she said, spitting out the words as if they were bullets. The supervisor simply sighed quietly before continuing.

“That much we’re not too sure of, though we have a few ideas. We brought up your injury and they said it wouldn’t be much of a problem, so I presume they’ll give you more details upon arrival.”

Misaki groaned in resignation.

_ Great, they’re gonna pawn me off on some rich kid. I don’t even get to choose, but like hell is somebody else going to give me a job that pays half as well with my problems.  _

Things would be fine. It would probably just be a month or two of hell until the girl got sick of her and she was dragged off of the contract. Thinking that, she smiled sweetly (and just fakely enough to ensure that they noticed) then nodded.

“Very well sir, when can I get started?”

***

Misaki roughly pushed open the apartment door with a pained grunt, throwing her bag and coat on to the ground.

“Tomorrow!” she shouted. “My entire life is being upended and they’re not even giving me a whole goddamn day!” The temptation to jump onto her bed and scream into a pillow was overwhelmed by the pain she knew it would incur, so she opted to angrily sit down on a chair instead. 

She ran a hand through her hair. In prior years she would have fiddled with her hat, but those days were long gone, so she just continued to scratch harshly into her scalp. 

_ I don’t know what I expected from them, honestly _ , she thought. Their priority was the contract, and specifying that they could have somebody living at the mansion — they’d seriously called it a mansion, Misaki had never even  _ seen  _ a mansion — within a day was probably a great way to close out the deal. She wanted to cry. She didn’t, and she wouldn’t, but she wanted to. Instead she channeled her anger into something more productive and forced herself back up. There wasn’t much to pack in her tiny apartment, but she didn’t particularly need to be fired for not being ready in time.

The girl shook her head at nobody in particular. She’d always felt that her life had reached rock bottom before, but evidently the universe had other plans. Throwing her things half-heartedly into a rucksack — and taking deep breaths as she did so — Misaki tried to clear her mind slightly, but the red haze that clouded her vision refused to subside. 

On the bright side, she supposed, they could eventually make her redundant — move her to an easier office job or as a mentor to another new recruit. If the Tsurumaki family didn’t renew her client then surely they’d figure out she couldn’t be expected to perform and brush her aside. 

That was the plan then. She would show up, half-heartedly do her job, refuse to properly get involved with the client and move on in a few months. It was all she had to do and it was all she would do.

Apartment now more or less devoid of any personal belongings, Misaki drained the tension from her body and flopped quietly onto the bed.  _ Make no mistake _ , she thought as her eyes closed and her consciousness began to drift off,  _ I’ll be back here as soon as I can. Nothing could possibly keep me there _ .   
  


***

_ Before Misaki tower two indomitable figures — behind them her two siblings cower quietly in the corner, unwilling and unable to help. She wipes the blood from the corner of her mouth, snarling like a feral bear. It wasn’t what she wanted. All she’d wanted was to spend her days peacefully at school, and yet she sits on the floor with a blackened eye and a shattered ego.  _

_ A voice roars and echoes throughout the house, demanding that she leaves. A broken Misaki complies. Packing up her meager belongings she leaves, never to return to that house. The next day she goes to ask the girl for help, but is turned away at the door with only a disgusted glare and a casual laugh. _

“Shit!” Misaki jolted awake in a cold sweat, her body limply holding onto the bed to stop her from falling off. The room swam around her, the cloying darkness trapping her as her body fought desperately for air. She hurriedly rolled onto her back, inhaling as deeply as she could and exhaling with a similar amount of energy. Slowly but surely the room came back into focus and the images from the dream subsided, leaving her alone again. A clock on the bedside table read ‘5:46 AM’, and the small slit of sunlight beginning to break through her curtains confirmed the fact. 

Her eyes tightened for a few brief seconds, her breathing starting to synchronise to a practiced internal metronome. When they reopened the room was considerably lighter, and so was Misaki’s body (chest pains aside).

“No time to cry, Misaki, you’ve gotta leave at seven,'' she mumbled angrily into her pillow before swinging her upper body up. 

The dreams had intensified recently, but that was the least of her problems. She could worry about the past later — for now she had a journey to prepare for. 

***

To call the Tsurumaki abode intimidating would have been a significant understatement. The Tsurumaki mansion was a daunting monolith amidst seemingly endless acres of untouched, and presumably Tsurumaki owned, fields; it’s elegant, gothic design was supplemented by sleekly designed gardens and topiary arrangements on every side, those in turn being supported by hand-picked flower arrangements that had just enough colour variety to catch the eye but not so much as to become distracting.

It was gorgeous and Misaki hated it. The very sight of the mansion made her a little ill — such decadent luxury was borderline insulting — but she pressed on towards the front doors nonetheless. Her driver had already left, now a mere speck on the long and winding road back to regular civilisation, so there was no backing out now. 

As she walked, Misaki passed several people who seemed to work for the Tsurumaki family: gardeners; cleaners; butlers; a group of people she would have pitied if she didn’t happen to be one of them. They all ignored her, thankfully, and she safely made it to the doors with no needless conversation. 

She looked around for a doorbell that didn’t seem to be present, yet no sooner did she go to knock than the grand oak doors swung open to reveal a woman with slick black hair, a firmly pressed suit and sunglasses that were probably more expensive than anything Misaki owned. The brunette glanced down at her own ratty outfit and blushed lightly, but if the other woman was disappointed by the quality of her clothes then she made no showing of it. 

“Good morning, Okusawa-sama. Please, come inside,” she said, then stepped back with an outstretched arm. Misaki stepped through the doorway tentatively with a small nod, internally grimacing as the doors were firmly shut behind her. 

There was a small pause after that. The woman looked Misaki up and down, and while she couldn’t see much past the sunglasses, Misaki had a feeling that she was being judged somehow. 

“I hope your journey here was comfortable, I understand we can be quite out of the way for most.” Her voice was soft but uncompromising — welcoming in the same way one was welcomed at Fort Knox. “Please, allow me to escort you to the room assigned to you, Okusawa-sama. Your belongings have already been placed in there for you, so please feel free to lay them out as you wish — it will be your own personal living space for your entire time here,” the woman said before she began to walk deeper into the mansion. 

While she didn’t have much time to look around, it was hard for Misaki to miss both the elegant design and considerable size of the entrance hall. A dark brown colour scheme was accentuated with golden elements, while a high quality carpet in a vivid red snaked up the central stairs to the second floor. 

_ Come on, you’ll have time to gawp later, better get moving for now _ , she thought, prompting her to quicken the pace at which she walked and catch up to the mysterious woman.

“Um, could I ask a few questions?” 

The woman didn’t stop, but she quickly glanced over in Misaki’s direction and nodded curtly. 

“Of course. Feel free to inquire as to anything that you’re curious about,” she said.

“Uh, first of all… could I know your name? It feels kind of strange not really knowing what to call you…” Misaki asked.

“Oh, my apologies, I completely forgot.” Without breaking stride the woman stopped, bowed deeply, and then continued walking within what appeared to be a fraction of a second. “I sincerely apologise for my rudeness, I was under the assumption that your agency would have filled you in on the finer details but I had forgotten how they operated. My name is Maria, and I am the head of the Tsurumaki management division assigned to this particular area — I am in charge of most matters relating to the care and protection to the young mistress Tsurumaki.”  
“Then why are you addressing me with ‘sama’?” Misaki said.

“As the closest bodyguard to the young mistress you are immediately placed at the top of the hierarchy, Okusawa-sama, and are thus above me in station.”

Misaki almost stopped in her tracks, eyes widening, but she managed to continue walking without dying of a sudden onset heart attack.

“Whoah, whoah, whoah, hold on — what? I knew I was her only dedicated bodyguard, but I didn’t ask to be given all that power!” She said as she shook her head rapidly. Maria ignored it, continuing on as usual.

“Worry not, it doesn’t mean all that much if you don’t want it to. It’s mostly for the sake of the young mistress, as you will be spending the most time with her and can thus best relay her wishes to the team, but if you do not wish to overstep any boundaries then feel free to leave things as they are for now.”

“...Yeah, I’ll take you up on that one, if you don’t mind. I’ll guard her, but I’m not up to much more than that, especially not with this whole knife wound thing.”

Maria nodded.

“Very understandable. We’re here, by the way,” she said, stopping outside the third brown door in a lengthy hallway full of them. “Please, make yourself at home and we’ll pick you up later for a more thorough briefing of the situation and your first meeting with the young lady. Until then, please do not leave this room — for your safety it is best that you not look around until you’ve been given a proper tour of the mansion; it can be rather… formidable, to newcomers.” 

“Alright, no exploring, no nonsense, no hands and feet outside of the car, got it. I’ll see you later then, I guess,” Misaki said, opening the door with one hand and waving lightly with the other. 

“I hope your stay is comfortable, Okusawa-sama.” Maria bowed her head deeply, then turned on her heel and walked off the other way, leaving Misaki to slink quietly into her new room and shut the door behind her. 

As expected the residence was barren, the only notable features being its size (already being twice the area of her old apartment), the brown wooden bed sitting in it’s centre, and Misaki’s packed luggage sitting sadly in the corner. She took one look at it, shook her head and simply sat down on the floor, back leaning against the bed. From the looks of it this was her life now: a cold, soulless room in a mansion owned by people that could buy and sell her a thousand times over. 

She wanted to cry, but that was a waste of energy, so she simply sat waiting for the knock on her door. 


	2. Chapter 1: The Rich Girl

“...And this, Okusawa-sama, is the entrance to the eastern wing. Within you’ll find the rooms for most of the Tsurumaki family, those very close to them, and any personal guests that are visiting. Currently, however, its only resident is the young mistress.”

“Wait — on her own? It took an  _ hour _ to tour the west wing, it’s  _ huge _ ! She lives on her own in a wing that big?” Misaki said.

“That is correct, Okusawa-sama.”

Misaki raised an eyebrow incredulously, but pushed it back down as quickly as she could. After thinking about it for more than five seconds she could absolutely believe it, but that didn’t stop her feeling a slight sense of pity. 

The Tsurumaki mansion, as Misaki had found out during her guided tour, was split into two major wings. In the western wing were the servant’s quarters — various rooms and dormitories for less prestigious guests and those who worked for the family. Currently most of the rooms were occupied by the Suits (the name Misaki had given to the group of women who seemed to handle most of the dirty work that the Tsurumakis wanted done), chefs, gardeners and butlers, with Misaki’s being fairly close to the entrance. It also included several kitchens and game rooms.

Both wings were connected to the central part of the mansion, which housed the stairs to access the other floors — each wing had two floors, there was also a basement area giving each part of the mansion three major floors — and the main dining area, alongside a grand hall for various functions. All of these places had several exits to the acres of land around the mansion, most of which had been repurposed into fancy gardens; what wasn’t a garden had been turned into things like tennis courts or various other forms of entertainment. 

Put simply, the Tsurumaki abode was absolutely massive. 

Misaki already knew she was out of her depth, but the sheer size of things was still surprising. The fact that this was presumably one of many estates the Tsurumaki family owned more or less confirmed her idea that the client would be a typical spoiled rich girl with everything she could ever ask for on hand.

“Luckily for you, Okusawa-sama, you won’t have to learn the layout of the mansion as quickly as most employees. Your focus will be mostly on places the young mistress spends time in, which is generally a small handful of areas. However, if you ever find yourself lost, simply come back to the entrance hall and ask either myself or another member of my team and we shall guide you in the general direction of Tsurumaki-sama.”

Misaki mumbled her approval, finally leaving the throes of deep thought. As long as she kept track of the important landmarks she felt that she would be alright, despite the unfamiliar environment. At the very least the mansion was laid out logically and consistently — but then again they had probably hired the best architects in Japan to build it, so it wasn’t much of a surprise.

“We’re going to meet her now, right?” Misaki asked. Maria nodded slightly in response. “Is there anything I should know?”

“In terms of what, Okusawa-sama?”

“Well, I mean like… y’know, rules and shi-stuff. Stuff. Anything in particular I should call her, do I need to kneel… that sort of thing,” Misaki said, rubbing the back of her neck lightly, a light blush dusting her cheeks. It didn’t help that Maria was now glancing directly at her, and she was struck with the feeling that behind those sunglasses was an expression of either pity or annoyance. 

“Pardon the question, but you’ve not met anybody like Tsurumaki-sama before, have you?”

“Ultra rich girl? Honestly, can’t say I have, no,” Misaki said.

“I had a feeling. You appear to be vastly overestimating just how serious her position is,” said Maria. “Make no mistake, she is by far the most valuable asset to the Tsurumaki family, and were she to be harmed the perpetrator would be in a truly exceptional amount of trouble. However, the young mistress herself isn’t particularly bothered about station — just treat her as you would anybody else and things will be fine.”

A small sigh of relief escaped Misaki. That was one problem out of the way at least. 

“Just act normal then, got it.”

“Right this way,” Maria said, gesturing at a door to their right. “Yes, just act as you would in any other situation. The contract doesn’t state that you need to become close friends, but some degree of cordial acquaintanceship is expected. Left here.”

That was probably something Misaki could manage. She could be cordial.  _ I’ll be so cordial that this Tsurumaki girl will want to drink me _ .

_ Wait, hold on _ . 

She held her brain back as they turned the corner and stopped at a pair of large mahogany doors. 

“Tsurumaki-sama is inside. I’ll accompany you for your first meeting as I’m sure it will make both of you more comfortable, and then you will have the chance to spend some time alone with her. Are you prepared, Okusawa-sama?” asked Maria. Misaki almost gave a wry thumbs up, but instead settled on a tepid nod. 

“Very well,” Maria said before gently pushing open the doors, revealing an opulent yet refined meeting room that housed a grand oaken table. She stepped through, and Misaki followed suit.

Entering the room, the first thing that drew her attention was a flash of gold at the table’s head. It was the hair of the heir, Kokoro Tsurumaki, who sat with a small smile on her face and bright yellow eyes staring inquisitively at the entrance. She was dressed in an outfit that surprised Misaki with its simplicity — a red and white striped shirt covered with a pair of jean overalls. 

Maria bowed deeply, but as per the request Misaki remained standing. Certainly. she wasn’t about to complain if it meant putting less stress on her stomach.

“Tsurumaki-sama, I’d like to introduce you to Okusawa-sama, the one chosen by your parents to be assigned to you,” she said lightly. Kokoro seemed not to register the discussion for a few moments, instead eyeing Misaki up and down a few times. Then, in a sudden burst of energy, she stood up and rushed next to the two of them.

“Nice to meet you! You’re Misaki, right?” She held out her right hand, and Misaki accepted the handshake in a daze, prompting Kokoro to flail her arm about wildly. As soon as it had happened, the brunette’s arm was released, falling limply back to her side. 

“Uh... “ she paused for a few moments, her brain trying desperately to defragment itself enough to create something that resembled a thought, “g-good to meet you, Tsurumaki...san?” 

‘San’ was probably correct, she felt. Friendly enough to adhere to the directive of being acquaintances but not so friendly as to overstep any boundaries. Her skin crawled a little at being addressed with just ‘Misaki’, but she didn’t exactly hold much power in the interaction so she let it go.

Kokoro shook her head rapidly, hair flying about her shoulders and filling Misaki’s vision. 

“Just call me Kokoro. Going by second names is so boring, isn’t it?” Kokoro said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Misaki glanced desperately at Maria for help, but was met with absolutely nothing but the same steely glare as always in response. She was probably used to this by now — and even if she weren’t that wouldn’t stop her from capitulating to Kokoro’s wishes — but damned if Misaki wasn’t going to try. She gulped deeply and tried to clear her mind before responding.

“...Alright. Good afternoon, Kokoro-san,” she said with as little bitterness as she could muster. The other girl frowned for the briefest of moments, but appeared to accept it as her face quickly returned to its previous smile. Satisfied with that, Misaki continued.

“Uh, you’ve probably heard all this from Maria-san, but I might as well tell you again. I’ve been hired by your parents to protect you from anything bad that might happen. I hope we can keep a good relationship, but if you have any complaints then please tell either me or Maria-san.” 

_ Perfect _ , she thought, Professional, with just enough detachment to remove any ideas of closeness from the girl’s head, all the while appearing perfectly cordial. Good thing she managed to do it flawlessly, too, since she’d been mentally practicing it for almost the entire day.

“Mhm! I’m sure we’ll be great friends, Misaki,” said Kokoro with a wide grin.

Misaki looked around for the nearest window to jump out of, barely managing to prevent her face from sinking faster than the Titanic. She so badly wanted to scream ‘under no circumstances do I want to be friends, I’m just here because I have to be’, but she politely and graciously kept that to herself. Her mouth twitched lightly into a vague facsimile of a smile. 

“Y-yes, I’m sure... “ Misaki struggled for something to say, though before she could force something out of her mouth to at least feign the slightest interest, she was cut off by Maria’s voice.

“Apologies for the interruption, but Okusawa-sama still needs to be given the last of her equipment. The two of you will be given more time to get to know one another over dinner, if that is to your liking, Tsurumaki-sama?” she said. Kokoro immediately gave a quick thumbs up and nod.

“Sure! If you think it’s important then it must be, Maria. See you later, Misaki!” Kokoro said, and with a rapid wave departed the room, leaving Misaki to expel a deep breath she hardly even realised she had been holding.

“Is something wrong, Okusawa-sama?” Maria asked, glancing over with what Misaki could only hope was concern.

“No, no, it’s fine… I’m just not used to this, is all. I’m sure I’ll adjust, it’s just been a while since I’ve talked to someone so forward, I guess.”

The answer seemed to placate Maria, and so she moved to open the door they had entered through — her outstretched hand silently beckoning Misaki to follow her lead.

***

‘A medium-sized storage closet’, they had described it as. Misaki was perhaps not the greatest judge, but she liked to believe she had a fair grasp of where ‘medium-sized’ fell in the grand scale that was room sizes — a living room, for example, was ‘medium-sized’, as was a slightly above average kitchen — even if she would only ever describe the traditional storage closet as ‘tiny’. Reasonably, she imagined that ‘medium-sized’, in storage closet terms, was probably something close to a tool shed. 

With that in mind, she felt that she had been well and truly lied to. Shelves filled to the brim with various tools and equipment stretched almost as far as the eye could see, dusty brown walls just barely being visible in the distance if she turned her head; the ceiling was low but in terms of horizontal floor space she could easily fit her old house in the ‘medium sized storage closet’ a few times over with room to spare. 

The fact that she wasn’t even surprised was honestly the worst part — perhaps she was growing just a little too used to decadence already. 

“As you’re well aware, your position doesn’t require much in the way of equipment. However, for your safety we still feel that it’s best to provide you with a few things you might find useful in an emergency,” Maria said as she guided them through the maze like passages that the shelves created with an effortless level of grace that one could only achieve through years of practice and devotion.

“While we’re here, is there anything in particular you might want? We can get you anything at any time, of course, but it’s easiest to collect en route.” 

Misaki scratched her hair in thought, but nothing immediately sprung to mind. 

_ Except… _

“Um… do you keep sewing supplies here? Like knitting needles and wool and stuff.”

The question almost seemed to throw Maria off, as she stopped for a brief (almost imperceptible) moment, before returning to her usual stride. 

“Yes, we do — they’re often useful for clothing repairs or general maintenance… though I suppose that’s probably not why you’d want them. Would you like to take a look at them?”

Misaki blushed deeply and shook her head. 

“Ah, n-no, don’t worry about it. It was just a random question, just… y’know, regular interest. I’ll just take the stuff that comes with the job,” Misaki said hurriedly. Maria raised an eyebrow but moved on nonetheless.

_ That’s a trained professional for you, I guess. _

“Very well, through here,” Maria said, ducking through a narrow passage which led them to a large wall covered in various forms of weaponry. It was a little concerning, Misaki had to admit, but not something that she was really going to question. The taller woman looked the wall up and down for a few moments before picking a few items off of it. She gave one last look over and nodded in satisfaction, turning back to Misaki.

“I believe these two should be satisfactory. Please hold out your hands, Okusawa-sama.”

Misaki did as she was told, placing out her hands flat, palms up. A taser was placed in one hand and a handheld-transceiver was placed in the other — she almost breathed a sigh of relief seeing that none of the myriad knives were put in her care. 

“I presume you’re intimately familiar with both of these, yes?” Maria said. 

Misaki gave a small nod, turning the taser over in her hand and inspecting it. It wasn’t a brand she recognised, so she presumed it was custom made by a hired craftsman. The same was true of the walkie-talkie — both items felt weighty and sturdy in her grip.

“Yeah. Never had to use the taser myself, but we were all trained to use them just in case. As for this...” she turned her attention to the transceiver, “who’s on the other end?”

“Currently, that other handheld-transceiver over there,” Maria said, pointing to a counterpart mounted on the wall.

“However, we will be placing that in the care of Tsurumaki-sama. You can use it to get a hold of her at any time, and vice versa.” She looked around for a few moments before adding, “Apologies if she uses it inappropriately. She’s always been quite fond of them.”

Misaki smiled wryly, though her eyes said ‘kill me’.

“I’ll live. Call it a work hazard, I guess,” she said with a low laugh. “Speaking of that, what’s… Kokoro-san like? I mean, I met her, but it felt kind of difficult to figure it out.” 

Maria quickly typed a message on her pager before putting it back on her pocket and beginning the walk back to the storage room’s entrance.

“In what way?” she said.

“In… general, I guess? I just mean… what’s she like as a person? I couldn’t really get a grip on her earlier, so I was just wondering what you thought of her,” Misaki said.

“Even if I  _ were  _ at liberty to disclose information about Tsurumaki-sama — and I’m not, for the record, due to my position any and all knowledge I have regarding the young mistress is considered strictly confidential — I don’t really think it’s of much use finding it out from me. Tsurumaki-sama is very much her own person, and I believe that you’ll only be able to see the real her through actual interactions. Apologies that I couldn’t help you.” 

The answer was polite but curt, and gave Misaki a tacit acceptance that any more questions into the matter were strictly off limits. That was fine, she supposed; the statement about Kokoro being ‘her own person’ confirmed Misaki’s theory that she was something of an oddball, but she’d probably dealt with worse in the past. She pocketed the taser and HT and steeled herself mentally for the upcoming dinner. 

***

“As I’ve said before, Okusawa-sama, please do not worry too much about formalities. This is an exceedingly important job, and one you must be prepared for at all times, but the unfortunate reality is that the majority of your time will be spent simply living normal life by Tsurumaki-sama’s side. It is for the best that you simply relax and enjoy your time here,” Maria said as they turned the last corner before arriving at the dining room they had met in earlier. “Are you prepared?” she asked. 

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s just eating a meal, I like to think I’ve had plenty of practice at that,” Misaki said with her best smile.

Maria didn’t laugh. Instead, she pushed open the door and gestured Misaki through, closing it behind her as she entered. Misaki was, at long last, alone with Kokoro Tsurumaki.

Golden eyes widened and sparkled as the girl looked up at her, face set into a wide smile. She let out a small noise of excitement and patted the seat next to her wildly.

Misaki casually walked over and sat in that seat. Not that she had much choice — the plates and cutlery were already laid out there and nowhere else. 

At the very least now, with the curtains opened and windows pulled slightly ajar, the room was a little less depressing. Kokoro seemed happy about it but, as far as Misaki could tell thus far, she was happy about more or less everything.

“Hey there, Misaki!” Kokoro said as she tapped the table rapidly. “It’s nice to meet you properly. I was super excited when Maria said that I’d be getting a new friend, but you’ve been so busy all day.”

“...Yeah, it’s been a fairly tough day,” Misaki said, a small smirk on her face, “weird of Maria-san to describe me as a friend though.” 

_ Been a long time since anybody’s called me that _ , she thought as she fidgeted with her cutlery, desperate to hide from the gaze she could feel burning into her side.

“Hmm? But everybody’s a friend!” Kokoro said confidently, “I mean, unless you came here expecting to dislike me then we’re obviously going to be friends.” 

Misaki turned away slightly at that one. 

“So, tell me about yourself! Ah, wait, hold on, apparently it’s rude to ask that without talking about yourself first,” the girl spoke over herself without even giving Misaki a chance to answer. “My name’s Kokoro, which you probably already knew — Kokoro Tsurumaki. I like fun things, like games and music, but more than that I like making people smile. Alright, now it’s your turn!” 

Misaki turned to face her, narrowly resisting the urge to grimace. Kokoro’s eyes stared slightly up at her expectantly, evidently far more interested than Misaki felt they reasonably should have been. She paused for a few moments, searching briefly for an answer that would satisfy the other girl. There were many words that she would use to describe herself, but interesting was near the bottom of the list, perhaps right above friendly.

“Uh, I’m Misaki Okusawa… which I think I’ve said? I was hired to be your bodyguard, and I’m hoping I can do a good job of that. Pleased to meet you,” she said. In response, Kokoro simply shook her head, mouth settling into a frown for a brief moment before it bounced back upwards.

“You can do better than that, Misaki. I already  _ know  _ all of that stuff — tell me something new! What are your hobbies? What sort of things do you do in your spare time? Who do you hang out with? What sort of sports do you play?” 

“Uh…”

If there were two things Misaki loathed, they were herself and small talk. 

“I’m not really too interesting, Kokoro-san. I spent most of my time just working and sleeping... didn’t really have a lot of time to actually get anything done. Sorry to disappoint, I guess,” said Misaki. She fully expected an awkward silence to follow as the other girl realised that her conversation would lead nowhere, but to her surprise Kokoro let out a small “hmmmm”. 

“So you had a lot of work to do before you came here?” she asked.

“I guess you could say that. There’s always something or someone that needs guarding, so if you ask for more hours you’re pretty much guaranteed to get them.”

“Oh? So you asked them for more work?” Kokoro said, tilting her head. Misaki imagined that she’d probably never worked a day in her life so the concept was quite confusing to her. 

“Yeah. I never liked to just sit around when I could be out doing something,”  _ too much time to myself just meant I could think more _ . 

Kokoro stopped talking for a few moments, eyebrows knitted slightly in thought (though her mouth stayed smiling as usual). She eventually seemed to come to some sort of internal conclusion, and so her grin widened even further. 

“You seem like a really good person, Misaki.”

The fork Misaki was playing with dropped to the floor with a dull metallic thud.

“E-excuse me?” she sputtered as she leaned down to grab it. 

“Well, your job as a bodyguard was to protect good people from bad people, right? If you went out of your way to ask for even  _ more  _ jobs then that must mean you’re an even nicer person.” 

“That’s… well, I guess you’re not wrong about the job description, but I’m not quite that noble. I guess you could say I just took the extra work for the money, if I had to give a reason,” Misaki said. It was only partially true, but it wasn’t technically a lie, so she felt it was probably okay. 

As she was saying this she heard the doors to her right swinging open, and glanced over to see a small procession of women in suits bringing a few silver dishes in and placing them in the table’s centre, leaving as quickly as they had entered. On them were selections of fruit, some cheeses she didn’t recognise and a variety of other appetizers that she was otherwise unacquainted with — generally high class food. Kokoro grabbed a few pieces and Misaki followed suit.

“And you’re working here now because of the... “ she motioned to the stomach area as she spoke in between bites. Misaki nodded with a dry smirk.

“Yeah. Can’t really do much else so they put me here to— “ 

She cut herself off. Complaining about her employment situation directly to her employer probably wasn’t the smartest course of action. 

“...Well, let’s just say I can’t get a lot done. Too much movement and I kinda… lock up.”

As if to illustrate her point, Misaki’s body rejected her leaning over slightly too far to grab an appetizer and responded with a sharp, stabbing pain around the abdomen. She winced and sucked air through her teeth, gently leaning herself back until the pain subsided. 

“That sounds terrible, Misaki. I hope you start healing soon,” Kokoro said as she finished up the remaining scraps on her plate. Misaki prepared a retort, yet the bitterness and sarcasm she had expected to hear didn’t seem to exist. Her gut reaction fell by the wayside, merely leaving confusion in its wake. The earnestness puzzled her, so she simply picked at her food and allowed the room’s heavy silence to fester further.

After a few minutes the doors re-opened and the previous procession cleared up the appetizers, dropping off the entrées in their place. The dish seemed mainly centred around meat — lamb, as far as Misaki could tell. She’d never had the opportunity to eat it, and somehow having it in front of her filled her with a mixture of guilt and sickness. Cutting it open with her knife revealed it was filled with all sorts of stuffing.

A wave of nausea passed over Misaki and she stood up, skin pale and palms sweating. Kokoro looked up, worried, but was left confused as the other girl rushed out of the room in search of a bathroom. 

***

Misaki held her head in her hands, her panted breaths beginning to lengthen and return to normal. She groaned and leaned backwards, eyes forced shut.

“You’re out of your league, Misaki,” she whispered. Being given expensive food on a  _ literal  _ silver platter was so far beyond her that it still felt like a dream. Then there was Kokoro, who was nothing short of an enigma. If she had ulterior motives she was damn good at hiding them, because Misaki had found herself completely unable to discern anything from their limited interactions. She just seemed to be a good person who was genuinely interested in Misaki as a person, and that simply wasn’t possible. 

The brunette ran a hand through her hair in exasperation. 

_ I can’t do this _ .  _ I need to get out of here… sure, it’ll get me fired but this just isn’t a place that I should be,  _ she thought as she stood up shakily. There were probably some people out there who would employ her, she imagined, even with her injury. Anything would be better than being trapped in a world that was so far removed from what she was that it disgusted her.

“...Misaki?” 

Her brooding was interrupted by a light knock on the bathroom door and a small voice coming through from the hallway. 

_ Of course she’d come to check on you, you idiot. You just up and ran out of dinner like a moron.  _

“Um… I’m sure you probably don’t want to talk to me, so I’ll leave soon. I just wanted to say that if I did something to you then I’m sorry,” Kokoro said with a hitherto unprecedented level of delicacy. The words took a few moments to register in Misaki’s brain, but when they did she burst into a rough coughing fit before speaking.

“Wh — hold on, why are you apologising, exactly?”

“Well, you’ve been barely talking to me all day, and then you just ran out of dinner all of a sudden. This happens a lot, so if you don’t like me I can talk to Maria and you can do something else here. I’m really sorry, Misaki.” Kokoro’s words were followed by the sound of steps slowly fading away, placing Misaki’s feeble “wait” on deaf ears, and leaving her alone with nothing but her thoughts. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey look Kokoro is actually in this fic, big thanks to feathers for making this halfway readable, and feedback is always welcome

**Author's Note:**

> so I've had this started for a while but real life and everyone's best friend depression hit me hard. still, I'm back and ready to provide for my favourite ship in Bandori. rating might go up in future chapters, and I apologise for Misaki being the world's biggest ball of angst, but hopefully you can BEAR with me.


End file.
